Ayrshire Scotland Business News is provided by the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire. We publicise our members, and celebrate and report the wealth and rich diversity of entrepreneurial and business excellence that abounds here in Ayrshire, south-west Scotland. For further information e-mail Murdoch@eliteayrshire.com

The Elite Ayrshire Business Circle

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

Ayrshire young entrepreneur Ross McKinnon sets sights on Moffat Award

By: Jen Nash

AN AYRSHIRE corporate events specialist, a buffalo farmer, and a wildlife photographer have beaten off stiff competition from travel and tourism entrants from throughout Scotland to be shortlisted for the finals of the inaugural Moffat Awards.

[Pictured: Ross McKinnon, founder of Ayrshire-based Amazing Days Scotland, one of the businesses short-listed for this year’s inaugural Moffat Awards, with Jim Moffat, principal benefactor of the Moffat Awards.]

Ayrshire entrepreneur Ross McKinnon, founder of Amazing Days Scotland, Steve Mitchell who runs Puddledub Buffalo farm in Fife and Philip Price, an Argyll-based wildlife photographer and founder of Loch Visions, will all go through to the annual Moffat Award finals being held at The Lighthouse in Glasgow on 14 May 2008.

The search for Scotland’s outstanding young businesses who are demonstrating best practice, excellent customer service and positive economic and community impact in Scottish travel and tourism was unveiled in July last year by the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) thanks to a significant donation from The Moffat Charitable Trust.

The charity has pledged almost £300,000 to support the Moffat Awards, named after one of Scotland’s best known names in the travel and tourism industry, Mr Jim Moffat, co-founder of AT Mays. Founded in Saltcoats in Ayrshire in the 1950s as All Travel by Jim Moffat and his wife Margie, AT Mays grew to become the third largest travel group in the UK, eventually employing over 2,500 people.

The Scottish tourism industry is currently worth in excess of £4billion and employs in the region of 200,000 people. Last year PSYBT supported over 80 tourism businesses offering goods and services that enhance the community and overall visitor experience of Scotland.

PSYBT chief executive Mark Strudwick said: “Our finalists represent outstanding examples of aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to enhance the overall visitor experience of Scotland, and we are delighted that, thanks to the generosity of The Moffat Charitable Trust, their contribution and positive community impact in this important sector is being recognised.”

Speaking on behalf of The Moffat Charitable Trust, Mr Jamie Moffat said: “We have been greatly impressed by the quality of entrants for the first year of this award. We wish to encourage more young people who have a passion for business to play a leading role in enhancing tourism in Scotland, and we are delighted to be supporting them through this initiative.”

PSYBT was launched in January 1989 and is a national organisation with offices in 18 Regions across Scotland. To date 8060 (9551 proprietors) businesses have been assisted with £28.9m awarded - £25.7m in loans (89%) and £3.2m in grants (11%).

THE EDITORThe Editor of Ayrshire Scotland Business News is Murdoch MacDonald, a graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge University, where his journalistic contemporaries included John Simpson, now World Affairs Editor with the BBC, and Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the Guardian. Murdoch MacDonald has been in the public relations industry and a freelance journalist and broadcaster for more than 35 years.He has handled the PR accounts of many top Scottish companies, including Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life, John Menzies, Kwik-Fit and Barratt Homes.

He has hosted his own family finance programmes - "£s, Pence and Sense" on Radio Forth and "Moneywise" on Scottish Television.He now runs Ayrshire’s top PR consultancy Fame Publicity Services.

Wherever you are in the world, no other public relations consultancy, PR firm or publicity company can offer you a better or more cost-effective worldwide news distribution service, combined with search engine optimisation techniques that will drive customers and qualified sales leads to your company's website.

Murdoch MacDonald is also managing director of the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire.Telephone: 01292 281498E-mail: Murdoch@eliteayrshire.com

Murdoch and his wife Lilian (pictured above) have written a book called "Phoenix in a Bottle", describing how they overcame alcoholism and are now, contrary to conventional wisdom, able to drink alcohol responsibly again. "Phoenix in a Bottle" is published by Melrose Books price £16.99 and is now available worldwide.Reviewing the book, eminent American addiction expert Dr Stanton Peele PhD commented:

“Phoenix in a Bottle is a modern version of The Days of Wine and Roses, and tells the true story of how two people who entered a period of desperate drinking stayed with one another in a close loving relationship, and emerged from their alcoholism able to drink responsibly again.

“Both a wonderful love story and a challenge to conventional wisdom about how people can recover from drinking problems, Phoenix in a Bottle gives people hope, and helps them to confront their own demons - alcohol or otherwise.”

And now "Phoenix in a Bottle" has been selected as a set text by a top American university.

“Phoenix in a Bottle” by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald will now be required reading for all doctoral students in a psychology programme at Alliant International University in San Diego, California.

Alliant International University, headquartered in San Diego and San Francisco, California, was formed in 2001 by the merger of the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) and the United States International University. Alliant has 6 campuses throughout California and also runs programmes in Mexico City, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant is one of the premier psychology schools in the US, and it counts roughly half the licensed clinical psychologists in California as its alumni.

Dr. Gary W. Lawson is Professor of Psychology at CSPP. He says: “I adopted Phoenix in a Bottle because the dilemma this couple struggled with and the questions they ask themselves are like so many others I have encountered in 35 years of clinical experience treating addictions.“However, nowhere in addiction literature have I seen these issues examined and explained as well as Lilian and Murdoch do in Phoenix in a Bottle.“I also recommend Phoenix in a Bottle to many of my patients as well.”

You can buy "Phoenix in a Bottle" by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald online now direct from Amazon UK (click on book cover image below).